Emotions Revealed

Dr Paul Ekman is a master at spotting minimal facial cues in other people. He has described and
delineated the ‘micro-expressions' that cast split second shadows over our faces indicating the
true nature of our feelings. Ekman believes that emotions are what "make life liveable".

Emotions Revealed is more than just a manual in how to spot subtle emotional expressions in
others. Ekman records in fascinating detail his early research in remote cultures which have not
been exposed to western influence. His goal was to determine if emotional expressions are innate
or culturally variable.

He describes different facets of the inner (as well as the outer expression of) emotions such as
sadness, guilt and anger. His description of clinical depression isn’t really up to the minute
but his ideas on controlling or at least influencing one’s emotional responses are informed by
his own research and also influenced by certain Tibetan Buddhist ideas. The result is illuminating.

This book helps promote the sense that people everywhere experience the fundamentals of life in
similar ways. He describes how emotions and their 10,000 associated facial expressions are largely
universal. There are universal causes of sadness, such as a loss of a child. However, he discovered
that the causes behind other emotions, such as pride, guilt and respect, are largely culturally
determined.

Ekman describes the ‘cascade of changes' that physically happen to you when you are in one of one
of the five salient emotions (sadness, anger, fear, disgust and enjoyment). He shows that we can
produce these emotions in ourselves by carefully sculpting our muscles into the shifts that each
emotion needs to sustain it. He thereby neatly demonstrates how each expression can produce the
emotion as well as the emotion producing the expression. It’s a two-way street.

The book also shows a series of facial photos and Ekman invites his readers to match each emotion
to each face. Your score should improve by the time you’ve read the book.

Emotions Revealed should increase your sensitivity to your own emotional ebb and flow and to the
emotional lives of those around you - even when they attempt to hide them!